“We serve a large are here, about 40 counties in Michigan including all of the Upper Peninsula, and through those 40 counties, we know that least about 300,000 currently are affected by the SNAP pause.”
President and CEO of Feeding America West Michigan Ken Estelle says the federal government’s pause in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has created a $19 million monthly food assistance deficit.
Prior to the funding pause, Estelle says the food bank was experiencing the highest level of need in the organization’s 43-year history.
“If I compare that to, say the last 12 months, over that time frame, the amount of times people are coming for help has increased over 70%.”
Feeding America is accepting food and monetary donations at its Kentwood, Benton Harbor and Cadillac warehouse locations, as well as hosting two emergency mobile food pantries at Kentwood Community Church this month, something the organization has never done before.
“Obviously, if you can bring food to our food bank, what we do is we take and that gets out to a lot of different food pantries in our community, but also look at the local food pantries in your neighborhood. They might be able to get direct help as well because we’re all really struggling with this crisis of need.”
More information can be found online at FeedWM.org
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